~we were so tiny, happy and shiny~
---
Rehearsal number three! Yaay!
It's choreo.
God.
Fucking.
Choreo rehearsals.
You had gone to school in a tank top and shorts even though it's winter and freezing because you were too lazy to bring a change of clothes. You walk into the warmth of the performing arts center, taking your hoodie off.
"God, you're crazy." Lyra laughs at you. She was in sweats and a tank top with a zip up cropped hoodie.
"Thanks." You deadpan, stepping into the auditorium. You knew we'd all be splitting up into the choir room and dance room, but we always meet in the auditorium.
"Hey guys!" Emira runs up beside you and Lyra from behind.
"Hey." You smile.
"You coming to me and Ed's next weekend?" She asks. "I'll text everyone later, we're just inviting some of our friends in the cast to come hang out and maybe stay the night."
"Sounds fun!" You say. "I'll ask my parents."
"Yeah, same." Lyra says through a yawn. "Thanks for inviting us."
"Lye, you good?" You laugh. "You seem so tired."
"You know me." She shrugs, "I always get memorization done with early, I was up late."
"Oh, c'mon." You groan. "Learning lines comes naturally the more we actually run scenes. It's worked for me since middle school."
"For you."
"Yeah, me too." Emira nods.
"Oh, whatever. When we go off book and I know all my lines and you two don't, don't come crying to me." Lyra shrugs, signing all three of your names out on the sheet.
"If we have all three of the Heathers.." Mx Whispers checks the sign out sheet quickly and then looks up. "You three can come with me to the choir room, now."
"Y/N, we're just waiting on Hunter. Whenever they're done with vocals they'll come to the dance room to see if we're done." The choreographer, Trixie, tells you. She's pretty young- still in college- and has always been your favorite adult in Hexside theatre. She's also a family friend of yours. You nod and give Lyra a hug before she leaves with Skara and Emira.
"Have fun." You mutter.
"Good luck." She responds.
"Thanks." You laugh as she leaves the auditorium.
"Hey, Y/N, do you have Hunter's number?" Trixie asks.
"Umm.. I think so." You respond.
"Can you text to see if he's on his way?"
"Yeah, sure." You pull out your phone. "He shouldn't be taking this long to get from class to here.." Right as you're searching for his contact, the doors open and he rushes down the isle to the front of the stage where you stood with Trixie.
"Sorry, I had to drive Luz and Vee home." He sighs. "I'll make sure to let you know next time I'm running late."
"That's okay, just don't let it happen when Ms Arrington's in charge of you."
"You say that like he isn't her favorite." You mumble.
"Y/N." Trixie says sternly.
"Sorry, ma'am."
"Y/N." She laughs.
"Sorry, Trix."
"Alright, let's go to the dance room." Trixie says, crossing off Hunter's name and then leading the two of you out of the auditorium and down the hall. You don't say a word to Hunter yet, not really wanting to.
"Okay." She says, walking into the dance room and propping the door almost shut on a doorstopper behind her. "Y/N, could you switch on that fan for me please?"
"Yeah, of course." You nod, walking over to the small fan on the ground and flipping it on.
"Alrighty, so you both know dead girl walking, since you did the readthrough?" She says, setting her bag down against the wall and grabbing out her script.
"Yeah.." Hunter mutters.
"Yup." You add.
"Alright, perfect. So you're both aware that today's rehearsal is gonna be awkward?" She looks up at you, and both of you nod. "Great. So, for the first part, Y/N, you'll just have some freedom to walk around stage right.. up until 'before they punch my clock'. Then you'll head to stage right where we'll have a mini set for JD's room."
"Okay." You nod.
"And then.. here can we just set up a bed out of chairs on the left side of the room first?" She asks, setting her folder down and grabbing two chairs from the side of the room.
"Yeah, here." Hunter says, grabbing another two chairs. You walk up to him and take one from him, bringing it over to where Trixie was setting them out.
"Okay, you can't really lay on this comfortably, but it'll do so that we don't have to do this on the floor."
"Sound's good." You say, giving her an awkward thumbs up.
"We're gonna start from 'tonight I'm yours, I'm your dead girl walking'." She says. "So, Hunter.. you can stand right here in front of the chair-bed, and Y/N just stand here." She points to right in front of Hunter and you go where she told you to. You smile awkwardly at Hunter, and he shoves his hands in his pockets and looks at Trixie. "Alright so, at 'tonight I'm yours', Hunter's gonna stand up from the bed and walk closer to Y/N, and then at 'I'm your dead girl walking'.." She turns to Hunter. "I just want you to put your upstage hand on their shoulder, and downstage hand on their waist."
"Okay.." Hunter says, and you almost barf.
"Well like-" She pauses. "And both of you tell me if anything makes you too uncomfortable, by the way- I want you to like, reach to put your hands on their shoulder and waist kind of.. And then on 'get on all fours, kiss this dead girl walking', Y/N's basically just gonna push you to your knees." She pauses. "Jesus, this might be too much for a high school show." She laughs. "Is that okay with both of you?"
"Yeah, that's fine." You nod.
"Uh huh." Hunter nods as well, and then walks up to you. "So.." He lifts his hands awkwardly, looking at you.
"Upstage hand on their shoulder, downstage hand on their waist." She repeats, and he does what she says. It was weird having Hunter so close to you. "And then Y/N, just lightly shove him down. And don't actually shove him, just make it look like you shoved him."
"Okay.." You say, and then lightly push Hunter's shoulders down, and he drops to his knees.
"Do you guys wanna keep going or just run that part with music first?" She asks.
"Umm.. keep going." You say, so you can minimize the time you have to be learning this.
"Yeah." Hunter agrees.
"Alright, so from there Y/N says 'I've got one night to kill, before they roast me on the grill. Bow down to the will of a dead girl walking.' and right there I just want you to kind of sing that to him, and like lift his chin up or caress his face or something." You scrunch up your nose. "It's acting, N/N."
"I know." You nod.
"And then when you do 'and you know, you know, you know, it's cause you're beautiful,' Y/N will hold out their downstage hand, and Hunter will take it with his upstage hand and Y/N, you'll just help him up. Then on 'so the worlds unfair, keep it locked out there,' Y/N I want you to just hold your hand out toward the audience like a stop sign. and on 'in here it's beautiful'- if you're both comfortable with it- I want you to put your hand over his heart." She pauses. "And then just move your hand again for 'let's make this beautiful'."
"Alright.." You nod, processing everything.
"Got it." Hunter nods.
"Well of course you got it, you just go along with what I'm doing." You joke, and he scrunches his nose at you.
"Can we run that much with the music?"
"Yeah." You both say at the same time.
"Kay, Hunter you start sitting down."
"Right." He takes a step back and sits on the line of chairs.
"Alrighty.. starting from 'tonight I'm yours'." She nods at you, and you nod back as she hits play on the speaker.
"Tonight I'm yours, I'm your dead girl walking." You sing, and Hunter stands up, stepping forward and putting his hand on your waist. Ew. "Get on all fours-" You push him to his knees. Ew. "Kiss this dead girl walking. I've got one night to kill, before they roast me on the grill." You lightly grab his chin to lift his head up to look at you. Ew. "Bow down to the will of a dead girl walking. And you know, you know, you know-" You hold out your hand for him to grab. "It's cause you're beautiful." You help him stand up, and you're looking him right in the eyes, ugh, eye contact. "You say you're numb inside but I can't agree. So the worlds unfair, keep it locked out there." You hold your hand out toward Trixie, closing your eyes for a second. "In here it's beautiful," You touch your hand to his heart, which seemed to be beating really quickly. "Let's make this beautiful!"
"Alright, that was a great start." She says. "Do you wanna get water really quick? Because the next part is a kiss scene and I don't think you guys really want to kiss today?"
"No, no we do not." You say quickly.
"Wait do we have to kiss today?" Hunter asks, looking between you and Trixie.
"Oh, no." She shakes her head. "You can do that later. We still have a whole song though and the Heathers are only doing Candy Store vocals so get water quickly."
"Yes, ma'am." You nod, grabbing your water bottle out of your bag. You look over at Hunter, and can't resist the urge to make jokes. "God, Hunter, I can't believe you got on your knees for me so fast." He chokes on his water, coughing for a second.
"I can't-" Cough. "Believe you wanted me on my knees so-" Cough. "So bad,"
"Okay, less flirting and more getting water quickly."
"Yes ma'am." You nod, putting your water bottle away.
"Hey, we weren't flirting-"